The present invention relates to a method and system for monitoring fluid flow, such as fluid flow through pipelines or similar conduits for delivering natural gas, crude oil, and other liquid or gas energy commodities. The method and system relies on the measurement of acoustic waves generated by the fluid, thus allowing for monitoring of the flow rate without direct access to the fluid.
Natural gas, crude oil, and other similar liquid or gas energy commodities comprise a multi-billion dollar economic market. These commodities are bought and sold by many parties, and as with any traded market, information about the traded commodities is very valuable to market participants. Specifically, the operations of the various components and facilities of the production, transportation, storage, and distribution systems for each of these commodities can have significant impacts on the price and availability of these commodities, making information about said operations valuable. Furthermore, such information generally is not disclosed publicly by the various component owners or operators, and access to said information is therefore limited.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a method and system for monitoring fluid flow through pipelines or similar conduits for delivering natural gas, crude oil, and other similar liquid or gas energy commodities, such that information about such commodities can be accumulated and communicated to market participants and other interested parties.